Never mind who’s on first. Who’s behind the plate?
It’s not Carlos Santana, and for that you can blame that old Brazilian rabble rouser Yan Gomes.
All Gomes did last year was wrestle the Indians’ starting catcher’s job from Santana, right in the middle of a playoff race, no less, and for all intents and purposes, it was a technical knockout.
In games Gomes was the starting catcher, the Indians had a winning percentage of .620 (49-30). In games when Gomes wasn’t the starting catcher, the Indians had a winning percentage of .518 (40-43).
Given that the team’s winning percentage was over 100 points higher with Gomes catching than with Santana catching — Gomes caught. Barring injury, he will be the Indians’ opening day catcher, and their catcher in most of the games all season.
“I’m excited about it,” Gomes said. “I’m ready for the challenge. I spent the offseason working my butt off.”
In addition to being one of the better defensive catchers in the American League — he threw out 38 percent of attempted base stealers last year, a figure that would have led the American League had he caught more games — Gomes was also one of the best-hitting catchers in the league.
In 293 at-bats, he hit .294 with 11 home runs and 38 RBI. From June 28 through the end of the season, he hit .317, and he was at his best when the Indians needed him the most. In September, with the team trying to clinch a playoff spot, Gomes hit .309.
Not bad for the first Brazilian- born player in major-league history. Gomes played so well last year that Santana, seeing the handwriting on the lineup card, volunteered to switch to third base for 2014. A third baseman when he originally signed with the Dodgers, Santana went to the Indians’ spring training facility in Goodyear, Ariz., following the 2013 season for a refresher course in third base play, then played in some winter ball games in the Dominican Republic at third base.
“He offered to do it, so we were fine with it,” said Tribe Manager Terry Francona. “We don’t have to make a decision on anything now. If he can handle it, we’ll see. It would give us another option for us to keep his bat in the middle of the order.”
Gomes was flattered that Santana volunteered to change positions.
“Carlos wants to help the club any way he can,” Gomes said.
Over the last 12 months, Gomes’ situation with the Indians couldn’t have changed more. Last year he went to spring training hoping to compete for the backup catcher’s job, behind Santana, but failed to dislodge Lou Marson from that spot.
Gomes started the season at Class AAA Columbus, but just six games into the season, Marson was injured in a home plate collision. Gomes was recalled from Columbus — and he never went back.
This year he’s the Indians’ starting catcher.
“I don’t look at this like I have a roster spot clinched,” Gomes said before the start of training camp. “I look at it like I still have to come in and work as hard as I can to win a spot.”
Gomes’ stature as the starting catcher will require him to spend much of the spring catching the pitchers who are expected to be on the major-league staff.
“I had a lot of experience with a lot of them last year, but I’m still growing as a catcher just like they are growing as pitchers,” he said.
One of the pitchers Gomes is most excited to catch is Danny Salazar, who opened a lot of eyes in his rookie season last year.
“His poise, his stuff. It’s going to be exciting to see what he can do,” Gomes said. “Last year hitters would come to the plate and say, ‘Get this guy out of here!’ and I don’t blame him. You’ve got a guy out there bringing it at 100 mph.”
Gomes said he’s not only looking forward to his first full season as a major leaguer, but he’s also looking forward to seeing whether the Indians can build off their appearance in the playoffs last year as a wild-card team.
“Losing that playoff game was tough to swallow,” he said. “But it was nice to hear people talk about how far we came, and I think all of us learned a lot from last season that we can hopefully carry into this season.”